Heaven's Greatest Professor

Elder Ming stirred in his spot, his old bones weighing more than usual. His eyes were on his daughter—although she complained a lot, she did as Warden asked her to complete the project. The others supported her in the last few preparations to join the shell with the main framework.

"I told you we\'re late," a new voice said.

Elder Ming didn\'t have to turn to find it was Captain Jessica of the 3rd Infantry. He had been friends with the girl\'s father for a century. Jarek Forger was a brilliant man, one of the very few who came from a noble family. Unfortunately, just like him, Jarek had screwed up his relationship with his daughter.

Elder Ming couldn\'t help but wonder what they were doing wrong. True, in his case, his better half died in war, and he couldn\'t take care of Jenni as much as a mother could. But that wasn\'t the case with Jarek...

"The age is changing," he thought, "and I\'m just as unprepared for it as I was when I was recruited to the army."

"Hey look, they are formulating the barrier," Sergeant Aerel said. "It looks brilliant."

"You can go experience that up close," Jessica said. "I\'m famished. Let\'s see if they have any leftovers."

There was still meat roasting on the grill, so Jessica didn\'t have to look for leftovers. She helped herself with a plate, finally greeting him. "Elder Ming, I didn\'t think you\'d find time to be here."

He sighed. "I shouldn\'t be," he said. "But I\'m in a dilemma about getting Warden a pardon and wanted to talk to him about it."

"Ooh, he probably didn\'t like the sound of that."

"He did not," Elder Ming scratched his long grey beard. "These youngsters, they have no respect for their superiors."

On top of that, the guy got into trouble because he was disrespectful to a Judge.

"I was under the impression that respect is earned, not given," Jessica said, stuffing the roasted meat into her mouth. "Regardless, what did he do?"

Elder Ming opened his mouth to say, then closed it again. That\'s the thing, Ming thought the youngster would listen to him just because he was his superior, just because he was a gold ranker. Honestly, that was how things had happened for decades. He himself had to comply with his superiors\' orders with his head bowed when he wasn\'t the head of the artificer department.

He remembered how unfair a few of his superiors were. And how unfair many of them still were.

"Do you know what it takes to get a pardon?" Elder Ming asked.

"I\'m not aware of the specifics," Jessica said, pausing her chewing, "but it\'s mostly dependent on the offence and the contribution to war efforts, right?"

"It is, but you cannot imagine the complications there."

Jessica nodded. "So the contribution of repairing the main shell of the west front isn\'t enough to gain the pardon, huh?"

"It should\'ve been enough," Elder Ming said. "Unfortunately, it isn\'t. Even if I put all my effort, I can only clear out some of his restrictions without ticking off the Major General. His punishment came from a high judge, and I can only imagine Terel Walt making it harder for someone who went against his House."

"In the end, it\'s a game of who you risk offending and who you keep in your pocket, right?" Jessica said, her gaze towards the flickering light of the stele and the people working on it.

Elder Ming hated to admit it, but the young Forger girl hit the mark with her remark.

She stuffed a piece of a roughly prepared sandwich into her mouth and chewed. "Elder Ming, how many Runesmiths do you know who can finish this project within the time limit you have given?"

Elder Ming frowned, wondering what she was getting at, but he did provide her with an answer. "Many," he said. "I can name at least a dozen."

If the girl thought this kind of accomplishment was something rare for a master runesmith, she was sorely mistaken.

"And how many of them are his age?" Jessica asked. "And rank?"

Elder Ming frowned. He had completely forgotten how unprecedented it was to have a Master Runesmith at the Iron rank.

"Your expression tells me there aren\'t many," Jessica smirked with a winning smile.

"Not many, girl; I can\'t name anyone," Elder Ming said inwardly. Perhaps only the most talented youth from elven origin... or better yet, those mysterious Celestials—who gave away the knowledge of the runes to the world—are capable of such feats.

"While his skill at runes is undoubtedly impressive," she continued, unaware of his inner turmoil, "what impressed me more is how he handles people. Of course, I don\'t know everything, but completing such a massive project with only four adepts who were prone to grumbling—

"Hell, even I have to put my everything to bring out that commanding tone." Jessica pointed where Warden left the four adepts to do the honour of putting the final puzzle into the framework which would erect the barrier. "Look at now, he prepared food for them with his hand. How he\'s given them the honour, it might look something small to us...

to them, who worked tirelessly for a whole week, it\'s something huge."

Elder Ming stared at his daughter, who had a rare smile on her lips. The smile wasn\'t in mockery, contempt, or just out of sarcasm, but at her accomplishment... The smile only broadened while she played her final part.

The translucent barrier materialized in thin air as all of the people present cheered. Jenni laughed, wiping a hot bead of tears from her eyes.

"He\'s the type of person who\'d make others follow him, even if he didn\'t do it consciously."

Elder Ming stood up, and so did Jessica, but only the girl moved towards the jeering crowd around the barrier.

"You should discuss what you can do with him," Jessica said. "I don\'t think he\'ll be unreasonable. Besides, I think you\'d like to learn some of his insights into runes."

It took a moment for him to register what the forger girl told him, and he wondered whether he heard wrong. He had practised runes for over one hundred and forty years, and he\'d like to learn some insights from youths not even a fifth of his age?

Youngsters these days, they don\'t know how to show respect to the elders, he repeated inwardly.

Yet Jessica gave a mysterious smile and walked away as if she knew a secret he didn\'t.